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First off I am SD based and do not want to go to HD. I have 3 RCA receivers in the house and happy with. We recently bought a motorhome which came with 1 Sony Really Really Old SAT-A1. Real big, clunky, and you can almost heat the front half of the motorhome with the Sony. I also hate the menu system. Since the motorhome antenna system is a dual LNB King-Dome, I added a Samsung S70 for the bedroom and really like it. Good price from a eBay seller, it is small, operates in the entertainment cabinet without a lot of heat, and I like the menu system (similar to the RCA House receivers). And I did not have any trouble activating it with DirecTV. The motorhome (in the entertainment cabinet also has a Sony Sound System (can't remember the model) with a Fiber Optic (??) input capability much like one of my RCA House receviers has. Searching the net I determined that Samsung also made one model up from the S70 Receiver, a S75 that can output via the fiber optic. Any opinions on the reliability of the S75? So that is my target for eBay buying, a Samsung S75. But No Luck so far in finding one. Also I was able to determine (maybe) that a Samsung S70 is the same as a 300W, and the S75 the same as a 303W in functionality. Is that true, are they the same? Does anyone have a reliable source for the Samsung S75/303W receivers???

I can't help you with information on the older receiver models, sorry.

But I can advise you that DirecTV is either already, or soon, going to stop activating receivers that do not have a Receiver ID (RID) number. This could impact your plans (depending on whether what you buy does or does not have an RID).

The newer SD receivers (D10, D11, D12) do have RID. You might want to look into one of those.

I think that RID Number you talk about is the difference between the S70 & 300W; and the S75 and 303W models. The "S" models do not have the RID but the "W" models have it. I guess I'll have to dig a little deeper on the net to find out.

Thanks guys, giving me that term "Receiver Identification Number/RID" was the key. Went to Directv, downloaded the manuals (PDF's) for the S70/S75 (No RID's) and the 300W/310W (with RID's). So that tells me the correct model samsung I'm looking for, a 310W that has the "Optical Digital Audio Jack" feature (that bought seperately). As far as I can tell by comparing both manuals, the only difference between the "S" series (S70/S75) and the "W" series (300W/310W) is the "W" series have RID's and the "S's" do not.

I think that DirecTV has already implement their new policy of not activating non-RID equipment. So, unless those old old Receivers were originally on your account you won't be able to activate them.

Another rumor depending on who you get for a CSR or if you are clever enough to ask for the access card dept. (as supported by posters on this system who purchased receivers and got them activated)

With the MILLIONS of receivers that don't have RID's (including one that is active on MY account and only re-activated 6 months ago!) it is doubtful that DirecTV will stop activating them or force customers to upgrade until they formally set a date to discontinue support for receivers without an RID or advanced program guide support.

They have already nudged customers to upgrade with receivers that do not support the "advanced program guide" by not including sports subscription channels and other various channels due to old-style guide capacity. But to DirecTV's credit they rarely force customers to upgrade equipment or programming packages.

And $5 a month is pure profit with no overhead multiplied many times over.

Another rumor depending on who you get for a CSR or if you are clever enough to ask for the access card dept. (as supported by posters on this system who purchased receivers and got them activated)

With the MILLIONS of receivers that don't have RID's (including one that is active on MY account and only re-activated 6 months ago!) it is doubtful that DirecTV will stop activating them or force customers to upgrade until they formally set a date to discontinue support for receivers without an RID or advanced program guide support.

They have already nudged customers to upgrade with receivers that do not support the "advanced program guide" by not including sports subscription channels and other various channels due to old-style guide capacity. But to DirecTV's credit they rarely force customers to upgrade equipment or programming packages.

And $5 a month is pure profit with no overhead multiplied many times over.

They'll still activate non-RID equipment if that equipment was originally on the same account.

I was able to get from Fleabay a "Brand New" Samsung 300W. It even had the original box with the 2007 DirecTv letter with an access card still in a seal cello envelop glued to it. And for $40 with shipping I'm happy (I think after these questions).

I want to "test" the receiver first before contacting Directv. In reading the manual it "infers" that I can do the antenna aiming and THEN call Directv to activate. Is that True? And what channel/transponder do I set it on for that exercise? If it test out OK, I then want to call Directv activating the Samsung and de-activating the Ancient Sony, will they do that at the same time. Or will they try to add the samsung and de-activate the sony at the end of the month just to weasel another five bucks out of me?

And last but not least, since the samsung came with a virgin access card will Directv still require a new one from them ($20 charge)???

Update & More Questions...I want to "test" the receiver first before contacting Directv. In reading the manual it "infers" that I can do the antenna aiming and THEN call Directv to activate. Is that True? And what channel/transponder do I set it on for that exercise?

Yes. Usually transponder 2 or 3 are fine.

If it test out OK, I then want to call Directv activating the Samsung and de-activating the Ancient Sony, will they do that at the same time. Or will they try to add the samsung and de-activate the sony at the end of the month just to weasel another five bucks out of me?

You can do that at the same time.

And last but not least, since the samsung came with a virgin access card will Directv still require a new one from them ($20 charge)???

Hard to say. Since it's a new card, they should be able to use it.

Hopefully this Samsung has RID, or you won't be able to activate it with any access card.

Finally, I got around to it and called Directv. I set up the "New" 300W in place of one of the RCA's in the house so I could hookup to a phone line. I was able to do/verify satellite aiming and signal strength before calling Direct. All worked well. Called Direct, they diabled the Sony first and after one minor glitch, the "New" samsung 300W was activated and is alive and well. Already having the access card is what threw them off a tad.

Now, on to the next Old Problem. Both of the receiver boxes are in the same cabinet. The King-Dome 9702 Antenna input coax's (2) come into the cabinet and hooked up to each receiver. The motorhome has two other TV inputs, one a crank up OTA antenna (RG-6) that is "amplified", and an RG-6 for Cable that is sometimes available as a part of staying at an RV Park. Both source cables also come into the cabinet. I know I can "Split" the incoming OTA Cable, connecting two RG-6 cable from the splitter/combiner to each satellite receiver to receive Local OTA TV signals on each satellite receiver. Is there a splitter/combiner that would allow me to input two sources (OTA Crank up antenna & RV Park Cable) into a device, then output to the two satellite receivers OTA antenna port????

First please be aware that the Samsung satellite receivers do not have off the air or cable TV tuners in them. The "in from antenna" coax input is there strictly to act as an antenna signal pass-through when you are using an old-style all-RF "channel 3" type hookup to a TV.

Any off the air or cable tuning is done by the TV set itself, not the sat box. Satellite watching is completely separate from OTA/Cable watching.

You can't "combine" the OTA and cable signals on one wire because the OTA signal and the Cable signal occupy the same frequencies. They have to be kept separate.

The usual way to handle this is to use a mechanical "A-B" coax switch. (example: Radio Shack 15-1217 or 15-1968.) You put the OTA RG-6 into the A side of the switch and the Cable RG-6 into the B side of the switch; then run an RG-6 jumper from the center output of the switch to the input of a 2 way splitter; from the splitter you run a cable to each receiver's antenna input. Push A on the switch for Antenna, and B on the switch for Cable.

If your TV sets have red/white/yellow composite video inputs as well as coax, you shouldn't pass the OTA/cable signals through the sat boxes at all. Set up the A/B switch as described, then run coax cables from the 2-way splitter directly to each TV set's antenna input. Run separate composite cables (Red white yellow video cable) from each sat box directly to each TV set's Composite Video input. Then use the TV's TV/Video switch to change between watching satellite and watching the local OTA/Cable signal (from the A/B switch).

Your TV sets will need to be new enough to be able to tune both ATSC digital signals for OTA, and NTSC analog for the the usual RV park cable hookup.

First please be aware that the Samsung satellite receivers do not have off the air or cable TV tuners in them. The "in from antenna" coax input is there strictly to act as an antenna signal pass-through when you are using an old-style all-RF "channel 3" type hookup to a TV.

Any off the air or cable tuning is done by the TV set itself, not the sat box. Satellite watching is completely separate from OTA/Cable watching.

You can't "combine" the OTA and cable signals on one wire because the OTA signal and the Cable signal occupy the same frequencies. They have to be kept separate.

The usual way to handle this is to use a mechanical "A-B" coax switch. (example: Radio Shack 15-1217 or 15-1968.) You put the OTA RG-6 into the A side of the switch and the Cable RG-6 into the B side of the switch; then run an RG-6 jumper from the center output of the switch to the input of a 2 way splitter; from the splitter you run a cable to each receiver's antenna input. Push A on the switch for Antenna, and B on the switch for Cable.

If your TV sets have red/white/yellow composite video inputs as well as coax, you shouldn't pass the OTA/cable signals through the sat boxes at all. Set up the A/B switch as described, then run coax cables from the 2-way splitter directly to each TV set's antenna input. Run separate composite cables (Red white yellow video cable) from each sat box directly to each TV set's Composite Video input. Then use the TV's TV/Video switch to change between watching satellite and watching the local OTA/Cable signal (from the A/B switch).

Your TV sets will need to be new enough to be able to tune both ATSC digital signals for OTA, and NTSC analog for the the usual RV park cable hookup.

Keith

Keith, exactly what the local Radio Shack guy said, and I was out the door with the A-B Switch and splitter just like you laid out. He explained that if I just used the splitter I would get Ghost Images because of the open ended cable. And the TV's are both new Samsung LCD's. Doing it this way is going to really clean up a mess of cables/connections & that Video Control Box that gives me fits (doesn't operate consistently!!!)